Hong Kong Jockey Club cancels Happy Valley race meeting over threat of anti-government protests
- Jockey Club fears possible negative reaction to controversial pro-establishment lawmaker Junius Ho’s horse Hong Kong Bet running in race
- Ho was asked to withdraw horse from race but rural leader was adamant it would run, saying Jockey Club should have faith in city’s rule of law
A race meeting at Hong Kong’s Happy Valley course was cancelled just hours before it was meant to start on Wednesday, out of fears anti-government protests could compromise the safety of staff, customers and horses.
The racing schedule had been so far unaffected by the social chaos engulfing the city in recent months, but that changed when Hong Kong Bet, a horse part-owned by polarising pro-establishment lawmaker Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, was down to run.
The Jockey Club confirmed it called Ho to talk about the situation, but from the outset of the discussion he was adamant his horse would run.
Ho said in a telephone conversation with the head of stables, the staffer “had neither asked us to withdraw Hong Kong Bet from the race tonight nor given any hints that the night meeting might be cancelled in the event of Hong Kong Bet’s insistence to run” in the race.
The controversial politician became a hate figure among the protesters after he publicly defended the white-clad men who indiscriminately attacked demonstrators and commuters in Yuen Long station on July 21. Ho was filmed shaking hands with the men and thanking them, though it was unclear what for.
The unprecedented cancellation was symbolic as many referenced it to the words of late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. In the lead-up to the city’s handover from Britain to China in 1997, he reassured nervous Hongkongers, saying: “The horses will still run, stocks will still sizzle and dancers will still dance.”
